Sifting

Only a few recipes in this book require dry ingredients to be sifted. Sifting is the act of adding air to the dry ingredients to produce lighter cakes and baked goods. To do it, I recommend shaking the ingredients through a large sieve. Sieves are less expensive and easier to clean than the special sifting knickknacks on the market today. Besides, they have many other uses, while a sifter has only one.